Kalashnikov machine guns and cars set on fire in the assault on a convoy of three armored vehicles carrying valuables, the safes blown up with explosives and a rain of banknotes on the asphalt of the Carlo Felice, the most important road in Sardinia. “I was going to work and I found myself facing hell,” says one of the hundred or so motorists who ran into the blockade, trapped in a gigantic traffic jam with chain collisions.
Pensions and salaries intended for post offices
Five people were injured, all security guards, none seriously, but for hours it was believed that one of the robbers may have been mortally wounded in a firefight, later denied, between fleeing criminals and the police. The loot is uncertain but considerable: it could be close to 5 million; Vigilpol is carrying out assessments, the safes have been broken into and almost all of the contents – pensions and salaries destined for around eighty post offices – have been taken away by the bandits. A patrol arrived a few minutes after the fleeing commando had abandoned two stolen “unmarked” cars with a bag full of explosives on board (immediately defused) and had driven away in “safe” cars.
A meticulously prepared shot
Meticulously prepared robbery, a band of professionals, at least 15 of those who participated in the ambush and those who studied it for a long time, with “posts”, drivers, lookouts and basemen who provided information on the route, destination, transit times. In the early morning, the Carlo Felice, a 4-lane highway between Sassari and Cagliari, is crossed by hundreds of vehicles with commuters. At Siligo (25 kilometers from Sassari) there is a junction and there at 8.20 the gang placed a large steel chain between the guardrails, scattered thousands of nails on the asphalt and placed a van across the road to compact the debris. rubbish and a small car (stolen) by setting it on fire. A few minutes later the three armored vehicles arrived, welcomed by the gang in military gear: machine guns, rifles, camouflage suits, hoods pulled over their faces. Two men led the action, peremptory orders, shots in the air to terrify motorists. Two others approached a pickup truck; the driver had fixed a mobile phone on the dashboard and was able to film them for a few moments, weapons in hand.
The explosive charges to blow up the doors
There were at least eight in the assault commando, the armored vans had to brake suddenly and collided. Under Kalashnikov fire – shots at eye level – the vigilantes were able to do very little. Made to lie on the ground, one wounded by a bullet in the thigh, another stunned by a blow to the head, a third managed to raise the alarm and call 118, two others bruised in the rear-end collision. Then the “bomb squad” (two) went into action and in a few minutes they blew up the doors of the three armored vehicles with explosive charges and unhinged the safes, widening the gaps with electric saws. Three booms in rapid succession and hundreds of banknotes flew away. The bandits loaded containers with much more money and walked away shooting into the air. Ambush, money raid, retreat. The robbery lasted half an hour and is a photocopy of another assault (again at Vigilpol, November 2022, three injured, one million loot) 5 kilometers away. In a street parallel to Carlo Felice the commando divided into several groups and disappeared. Hundreds of agents and carabinieri are hunting him, with helicopters and checkpoints throughout Sardinia.